I simply want to run a small high banker in Oregon up on the North Fork of the John Day River, simply recreational far less than 1500 cubic yards a year. The state regulations are somewhat complicated at least not clear to me. I have obtained the required General Authorization for Recreational Placer mining now I apparently need a water discharge permit but it appears that if Iím processing less than 1500 cubic yards a year I may not need one. The rules less than clear in this respect. Has anyone got the real story here? I will send the same question to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality but thought Iíd check with the experts first.

http://www.deq.state.or.us/wq/wqpermit/mining.htm#Small600To discharge in river get the DEQ 700pmto work the sides (plus booming) and the water outjust uses the natural contours or a small holding pondget the DEQ 600 WCPF its free. Check no fee, mobileI just answered the question 5 itís a small high-bankerwith no discharge into the waterwaythe next question just stated I would usenatural contours of the land, evaporation,or small holding pond No effect on ground waterdonít answer question 8 and beyond its not needed....

A 600 wcpf allows you to mine outside of the riverbed, said a little differently, there is no permit available in Oregon that allows highbanking in between the current water level and the high water mark.

This is directly from the person who is in charge of enforcement at ODEQ.

There are people who like to argue this, and if you do a site search on this forum, there were a few threads on this subject I believe it was around Nov. - Dec. 2011 with more information if you want it.